In "aircraft" mode, if you start moving forward, you will change direction when you rotate (you will still be moving forward relative to your point of view). In "spacecraft" mode, if you start moving then you will keep moving in that same direction when you rotate.

(Edit: Egads! I can't type worth beans lately!)

Last edited by Mr. Abner on 13 Sep 2017 12:11, edited 2 times in total.

Source of the post Followed on the ship? I'm not sure! The other thing I was wondering about is how do you "lock on" an object. Like let's say I am viewing an eclipse at a narrow FOV, and the sun and moon drift out of the field of view is there a way to keep them centered throughout the event?

Followed around the forum! I think I've finished reading new posts, I refresh the page, then I see there are more new posts! So back in I go...

To lock onto an object, there are choices: pressing "C" will center the currently selected object, but if you are moving, it will just drift out of view again. But if you right-click on it with the mouse, the bottom option will be "Track object". That will keep it centered. Just repeat the right-click to unlock the object.

A-L-E-X wrote:

Source of the post Okay so if I want to fly over a planet, I can use those arrow icons to increase the acceleration but what would I use to actually move around at that speed?

Near as I can tell, you have to use the actual arrow keys on your keyboard as I outlined above. I think a joystick and throttle will be better, but alas, I am without any at the moment.

Thanks for all the help! You've been spot on. I was just viewing an eclipse at a very narrow FOV (1 degree) and the eclipse keeps drifting from view. Would you suggest I right click and track the sun or the moon to keep it centered in this narrow FOV? I was thinking right click and track the moon because the moon is what's doing the eclipsing Incidentally is right clicking the object and clicking track better or is using the "Track" icon at the bottom and clicking on that better? In the case of the latter do I click on the icon a second time to "untrack"?I am stationary (top number is 0) but of course the Earth is rotating, so celestial objects appear to move (and at 1 degree FOV rather quickly!) does this mean I can still use "C" to keep it centered?

I don't think one method of tracking an object is any different from the other, just that right-clicking clearly selects the object you are clicking on. But if the object you want to track is behind some other object, then yes, you will have to find some way of selecting that object (F2 for celestial objects, ctrl-F3 for spaceships should do it), and then using the "track" icon button or the keyboard equivalent (which escapes me at the moment).

Tracking either Sun or Moon should work, depends which one you want to see moving across the screen. Try them both.

Source of the post suppose this is a needless question to ask since I think I already know the answer (No)- but is there a realistic way to model solar flares? Over the last week we have seen more solar activity than in a decade and have seen northern lights down to Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma. As a matter of fact, another solar outburst just occurred 2 hours ago! Is there a way for SE to model auroral activity in real time and display it in the program when it is actually happening and in the right locations where it is happening (depending upon the orientation of the flare with relation to the earth- and perhaps also other planets?)

Of course no.1) There are no online service what could show you the REAL map of auroras, only the predicted probability.2) SE don't support any online data streaming.3) Aurora rendering in SE is limited, it is a procedural ring of sprites. You can't make it follow the map and render it with a resolution needed to depict the real aurora.4) SE is a procedural universe generator at the first place, not the Google Earth clone or an a real-time weather rendering application (this is an answer to a similar question about usage of the real-time online clouds/wind data).

Source of the post suppose this is a needless question to ask since I think I already know the answer (No)- but is there a realistic way to model solar flares? Over the last week we have seen more solar activity than in a decade and have seen northern lights down to Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma. As a matter of fact, another solar outburst just occurred 2 hours ago! Is there a way for SE to model auroral activity in real time and display it in the program when it is actually happening and in the right locations where it is happening (depending upon the orientation of the flare with relation to the earth- and perhaps also other planets?)

Of course no.1) There are no online service what could show you the REAL map of auroras, only the predicted probability.2) SE don't support any online data streaming.3) Aurora rendering in SE is limited, it is a procedural ring of sprites. You can't make it follow the map and render it with a resolution needed to depict the real aurora.4) SE is a procedural universe generator at the first place, not the Google Earth clone or an a real-time weather rendering application (this is an answer to a similar question about usage of the real-time online clouds/wind data).

Thanks Vladimir- it's just that it already looks so realistic compared to images I have seen of aurorae! One other thing regarding periodic events, can meteor showers be simulated? There is no need for online data streaming, you could just use the calendar dates for when they occur and set the origin point for the constellation they appear to come from. As an added wrinkle, you could do something special for the Leonid shower every 33 years and show their big outbursts that occur in that period.

Thanks, I like all the variety of options available! Now if someone could just show me how to do a video without it taking up a stupendous amount of space on my drive but not be so compressed as to be artifacting all over the place either.For example, say I want to do a 5 minute fly through between mountain ranges at sunrise and I want the 5 minute video to take up no more than 100 mb of space without obvious compression artifacts- is that asking too much?

In "aircraft" mode, if you start moving forward, you will change direction when you rotate (you will still be moving forward relative to your point of view). In "spacecraft" mode, if you start moving then you will keep moving in that same direction when you rotate.

(Edit: Egads! I can't type worth beans lately!)

Looks like it will take a bit of maneuvering to navigate in between narrow mountain passes Now I wish I had a joystick too. Same question to you that I asked Mosfet, how do you do 5 minute videos on here without using a ton of drive space and getting compression artifacts?Also, wanted to ask if my textures are rendering correctly here. I see the mountain ranges which is awesome, but no atmosphere (or a very limited one) with the red sun high in the sky, the sky is black and I can still see other stars. Do you guys get the same kind of image? And is it because the atmosphere is so thin on this planet that the sky is still black during the day and stars are visible? It's Trappist 1-g

Followed around the forum! I think I've finished reading new posts, I refresh the page, then I see there are more new posts! So back in I go...

To lock onto an object, there are choices: pressing "C" will center the currently selected object, but if you are moving, it will just drift out of view again. But if you right-click on it with the mouse, the bottom option will be "Track object". That will keep it centered. Just repeat the right-click to unlock the object.

Near as I can tell, you have to use the actual arrow keys on your keyboard as I outlined above. I think a joystick and throttle will be better, but alas, I am without any at the moment.

Thanks for all the help! You've been spot on. I was just viewing an eclipse at a very narrow FOV (1 degree) and the eclipse keeps drifting from view. Would you suggest I right click and track the sun or the moon to keep it centered in this narrow FOV? I was thinking right click and track the moon because the moon is what's doing the eclipsing Incidentally is right clicking the object and clicking track better or is using the "Track" icon at the bottom and clicking on that better? In the case of the latter do I click on the icon a second time to "untrack"?I am stationary (top number is 0) but of course the Earth is rotating, so celestial objects appear to move (and at 1 degree FOV rather quickly!) does this mean I can still use "C" to keep it centered?

I don't think one method of tracking an object is any different from the other, just that right-clicking clearly selects the object you are clicking on. But if the object you want to track is behind some other object, then yes, you will have to find some way of selecting that object (F2 for celestial objects, ctrl-F3 for spaceships should do it), and then using the "track" icon button or the keyboard equivalent (which escapes me at the moment).

Tracking either Sun or Moon should work, depends which one you want to see moving across the screen. Try them both.

Funny thing is sometimes I get even get stars "behind" the landscape, as if the planet wasn't there Is there a way to turn that off? Sometimes I want the text description of what's being pointed at turned off so I can enjoy the incredible visuals of the simulation.This program is so amazing and addicting I have been trying to publicize it on every science and gaming forum I can find lol. I can't believe I didn't know about it until this year. I have been searching for something like this for years now and collected every space simulation I could find- but nothing ever quite measured up to this (especially when I figured out the full range of controls available.)

Source of the post how do you do 5 minute videos on here without using a ton of drive space and getting compression artifacts?

You and me both would like to know the answer to that one. I have the same issue with videos in that respect, particularly without any dedicated )and expensive) video software. I could not even fit a 5-minute video onto a rewritable DVD — file too large. Oh, and yes to the atmosphere on that planet being too thin. Hardy there at all.Oh, perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier, it sounds like you haven't looked in the "SpaceEngine/docs/" folder. I assure you it will be worth your time. In there you will find a bunch of readme files. You probably want the readme_eng.txt file. Open that up and have a look through — lists all the default key bindings. And you'll find that ctrl-~ is the key you want to clear your screen completely.Not sure about stars actually showing through a planet. Are you sure they are not night-side volcanoes?

Source of the post how do you do 5 minute videos on here without using a ton of drive space and getting compression artifacts?

You and me both would like to know the answer to that one. I have the same issue with videos in that respect, particularly without any dedicated )and expensive) video software. I could not even fit a 5-minute video onto a rewritable DVD — file too large. Oh, and yes to the atmosphere on that planet being too thin. Hardy there at all.Oh, perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier, it sounds like you haven't looked in the "SpaceEngine/docs/" folder. I assure you it will be worth your time. In there you will find a bunch of readme files. You probably want the readme_eng.txt file. Open that up and have a look through — lists all the default key bindings. And you'll find that ctrl-~ is the key you want to clear your screen completely.Not sure about stars actually showing through a planet. Are you sure they are not night-side volcanoes?

So the problem isn't on my end then, the planet and atmosphere looks the same to you on your machine? I might have a solution to our video problems, but it's a third party software (it's free though) It has a lot of settings to tweak and I think it will compress well enough without artifacts and ginormous file size, it's called ScreenVirtuoso Pro. Now I just need to find a way to use it without having to press down the up arrow key all the time See the text at the top left of my screenshot? Any idea on how to turn that off? I click various parts of the window (even the surface) and all it does is give me info on whatever's "behind" it! The only way I've been able to turn it off is click on some part of the window during the "daytime" for planets with thick atmospheres- when no stars are visible.

Here is a screenshot of the same image, and I clicked on the planet's surface and I get info on a star "behind" the planet. Note where the cross hairs are and the descriptive text at the top left that I want to turn off. I get this same "click through" effect when clicking on a planet when in space.

Funny thing is when I try to reset it to the current location by using Shift H 3 times, it puts Earth in the text rather than the planet I'm on.

Thanks guys! I've changed a few settings to make things easier. Now I want to start making those SE videos

Vladimir thanks for all your awesome work and dedication. If I knew how to do Open GL programming I would want to help you with this amazing project, since I run the program 12 hours a day. I'd do it for free of course, this is just way too much fun to even be thought of as work.

I have some ideas I was wondering if we could implement, like birds in the skies and fish in the water and even diving into the water or creating submarines on watery worlds. Some other stuff too (roads, vehicles, lights at night, cities, buildings, parks, forests, etc.) Making precip fall (rain, snow, fog, lightning, hail, ice, whatever, and watching it accumulate or flood the landscape.)